Syrian government says it will abide by UN ceasefire

After it didn't abide by the original UN ceasefire date the Syrian government has stated it will end military operations on Thursday.

Syrian state television today stated it would abide by the ceasefire it ignored yesterday (Tuesday 10th of April) instead stating that it will bring its military operations to an end tomorrow (Thursday 12th of April), which was the date the planned ceasefire is to come into effect reports BBC News, Yahoo! and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Kofi Annan today was sent a letter by the Syrian foreign minister agreeing to cease the fighting but stated that it reserved the right to respond "proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups against civilians, government forces or public and private property." The "armed terrorist groups" statement is the common term used by the Syrian government to refer to the opposition and Free Syrian Army forces it is presently in battle with.

"After our armed forces completed successful operations in combating the criminals acts of the armed terrorist groups and enforced the state's rule over its territory, it has been decided to stop these operations from Thursday morning."

-- Syrian state television

A Free Syrian Army spokesman has said in turn that the group doesn't believe the government will abide by the ceasefire and elaborated stating that:

"If the other side stopped [Assad and his forces], the Syrian people would march on the president's palace on the same day. This means the regime won't stop."

Refugees have been spilling over the borders into neighbouring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan as a result of the military crackdown, a reported 95,000 are taking shelter in Jordan whilst Turkey has about 24,000. It is presently unknown the amount of refugees taking shelter in Lebanon. Hezbollah has over the past few weeks reportedly started patrolling the border, in order to keep out Free Syrian Army troops from entering and supporters from within Lebanon from crossing into Syria.